INSTANT MBA: Your Customers Are Some Of The Best Business Advisors You Can Have

Bob Shaw//Net Optics Today's advice comes from our interview with Bob Shaw, CEO of the IT monitoring and control solutions company Net Optics:

"You can't be successful without feedback from the people you serve. We're able in some cases to look around certain corners and see what's ahead, but the way [others] look at the world...that perspective is very important for us."

Your customers are an untapped source of knowledge on how to better run your company, says Shaw. They have intimate knowledge of your company's products and as customers know what they want to see from you. Shaw invites a group of his customers into the Customer Advisory Board, which gathers annually to provide his company with feedback and suggestions on the business.

Shaw says that customer advisors are very helpful in developing a good pricing and marketing strategy for new products. They can also provide invaluable insight by testing products and reviewing them before released. This gives your business an outside perspective, and gives the customer advisors the thrill of being able to see new products before anyone else, and shape ideas of what they want to see in the future.

"When we get these thought leaders from these various verticals together, they each have a point of view and when you combine those together it starts to give you a very clear picture of what's on the horizon."

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